I dropped off my tax stuff with my accountant Monday. But before I did, I called Blue Cross/Blue Shield to get an idea of my out-of-pocket medical expenses for last year. My 11-year-old Jessica had her adenoids out last spring and I thought I may qualify for a deduction for medical expenses on Schedule A (itemized deductions).

Jess Erickson shows off her new braces.

I had some 17 claims on which BC/BS paid $8,737 and I paid some $1,464, plus $684 to Jess' optometrist and $231 to my dentist. Still, the $2,379 total didn't meet the test for deductions. You can deduct only the amount exceeding 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income (AGI). With Obamacare, that percentage moves to 10 percent starting with the 2013 tax year. For taxpayers 65 and older, it stays at 7.5 percent through 2016; for taxpayers in the alternative minimum tax the hurdle is already at 10 percent.

Using last year's AGI, the 7.5 percent test for me would be $2,049. And I can't include the $1,000 I stashed in a flexible savings account on which I already got a tax break; you can't double dip.

According to a Forbes report last year, more folks are eligible for the deduction, including retirees (think high medical expenses, low income), the unemployed, the underemployed and even working folks with employer coverage who are paying ever more in high out-of-pocket costs.

“The expenses can add up and surprise you sometimes, but usually only a handful of our clients each year get any portion of their out-of-pocket medical as a deduction,” Bell said. “I always tell folks who are disappointed they don't get benefits for their expenses that those that get a deduction for medical expenses usually had a pretty bad year — incomewise, healthwise or both,” he said.

That's for sure. Blake Shannon, 30, a contract landman from Yukon, estimates he last year paid $10,100 out of pocket toward an estimated $350,000 in medical expenses beating Hodgkin lymphoma, while Tabbi Burwell, 31, of Choctaw, and her husband incurred some $8,600 in costs, mainly for her infertility treatments.

MORE FROM NEWSOK

A 1981 journalism graduate of Oklahoma State University, Paula Burkes has more than 30 years experience writing and editing award-winning material for newspapers and healthcare, educational and telecommunications institutions in Tulsa, Oklahoma...